I've been working the past few weeks on a project for a major German shoe and clothing designer, a relatively small office building. We are coming up on a deadline this friday, so every day, I have found myself working past 7pm. I also had to come in Sunday and work, which really sucked since the weather finally gave us a break and gave us some good summertime for a change.
The weather in Stuttgart has been really apathetic this year. Last year, apparently there was a very cold and snowy winter followed by a blazing hot summer. I arrived at the end of a very mild winter (it snowed only once), and now we are in the middle of a very mild summer. The last few days, the highs have not even reached the 20s. Today, I saw people in scarves and jackets. I wish I'd taken mine to work, actually. This is like a winter in Phoenix.
I can't remember if I wrote about it, but several weekends ago, we signed the contract for an apartment. It was a pretty major achievement. No brokerage fee, which is a savings of about $1,500-$2000, and surprisingly, no deposit either. Great location, rooftop attic apartment, and a landlord who owns several buildings and Saori's coworker reports no problems since she's been living there.
It did take 30 apartment visits and four months to make it happen, however.
Monday after work, I met Saori there and we talked to the current tenant about his furniture he's leaving behind. He's moving in with his girlfriend, and the apartment is 7 flights of stairs up, so he's motivated to leave stuff behind. We walked through and offred to buy or simply inherant a lot of different things, including a grill, a bathroom cabinet, a vacuum cleaner, etc. The big ticket items for sale were a washing machine (150 euro), an ikea table and chairs (200 euro) and a big white leather sofa (500 euro). He originally bought it for 1000 euros, and its really still pretty new and relatively lightly used- I can understand him wanting to get half of that back. We took the washer and the dining set- the couch we told him was out of our price range, although frankly we have other plans for the living room area. We won't even have a TV, so we really only needed a couch for guests or something to sit on to read.
I finally signed up for language classes with the school I was interested in. I just need to make the deposit for the fees and then I'll be officially enrolled. The language barrier makes me squirm so much. I don't know if its easier or harder to learn German because of its similarities to English.
Been reading the news about Ferguson, Missouri, one of the suburbs of St. Louis. It's really sad stuff, but its strange that looking at the photos of one of the poor scrawny municipalties of St. Louis County makes me actually miss St. Louis a bit. It hits uncomfortably close to home when I realized that most of Saori's and my personal belongings are in a storage unit about a mile from where the protests are happening.
There was an Ebola scare in Berlin today. Tests are still ongoing on why a feverish woman passed out in a hospital waiting room. I'm worried about Ebola- not that it will get into Europe or the US- it seems actually inevitable at this point, but for the thousands more who will die from a basic lack of education and sanitation. I'm not worried about an outbreak in the US or EU because people here don't believe that Ebola is a government conspiracy, because we have closed sewer systems and accessible soap and water, and because our burial rituals do not involve close physical contact with the departed. I am washing my hands more frequently though.
Been really really tired lately. Feel like I'm running around all the time, and you may have noticed I haven't been blogging much either. Actually, its already past midnight here, but I really wanted to just some things down what I've been up to before I go to bed.
The weather in Stuttgart has been really apathetic this year. Last year, apparently there was a very cold and snowy winter followed by a blazing hot summer. I arrived at the end of a very mild winter (it snowed only once), and now we are in the middle of a very mild summer. The last few days, the highs have not even reached the 20s. Today, I saw people in scarves and jackets. I wish I'd taken mine to work, actually. This is like a winter in Phoenix.
I can't remember if I wrote about it, but several weekends ago, we signed the contract for an apartment. It was a pretty major achievement. No brokerage fee, which is a savings of about $1,500-$2000, and surprisingly, no deposit either. Great location, rooftop attic apartment, and a landlord who owns several buildings and Saori's coworker reports no problems since she's been living there.
It did take 30 apartment visits and four months to make it happen, however.
Monday after work, I met Saori there and we talked to the current tenant about his furniture he's leaving behind. He's moving in with his girlfriend, and the apartment is 7 flights of stairs up, so he's motivated to leave stuff behind. We walked through and offred to buy or simply inherant a lot of different things, including a grill, a bathroom cabinet, a vacuum cleaner, etc. The big ticket items for sale were a washing machine (150 euro), an ikea table and chairs (200 euro) and a big white leather sofa (500 euro). He originally bought it for 1000 euros, and its really still pretty new and relatively lightly used- I can understand him wanting to get half of that back. We took the washer and the dining set- the couch we told him was out of our price range, although frankly we have other plans for the living room area. We won't even have a TV, so we really only needed a couch for guests or something to sit on to read.
I finally signed up for language classes with the school I was interested in. I just need to make the deposit for the fees and then I'll be officially enrolled. The language barrier makes me squirm so much. I don't know if its easier or harder to learn German because of its similarities to English.
Been reading the news about Ferguson, Missouri, one of the suburbs of St. Louis. It's really sad stuff, but its strange that looking at the photos of one of the poor scrawny municipalties of St. Louis County makes me actually miss St. Louis a bit. It hits uncomfortably close to home when I realized that most of Saori's and my personal belongings are in a storage unit about a mile from where the protests are happening.
There was an Ebola scare in Berlin today. Tests are still ongoing on why a feverish woman passed out in a hospital waiting room. I'm worried about Ebola- not that it will get into Europe or the US- it seems actually inevitable at this point, but for the thousands more who will die from a basic lack of education and sanitation. I'm not worried about an outbreak in the US or EU because people here don't believe that Ebola is a government conspiracy, because we have closed sewer systems and accessible soap and water, and because our burial rituals do not involve close physical contact with the departed. I am washing my hands more frequently though.
Been really really tired lately. Feel like I'm running around all the time, and you may have noticed I haven't been blogging much either. Actually, its already past midnight here, but I really wanted to just some things down what I've been up to before I go to bed.
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